Visual Effects Society

Standing on stage, Stan Winston braced himself to defend his latest creation--the fuzzy, dancing robotic teddy bear that starred last year in the film "A.I. Artificial Intelligence." Hundreds of his rivals and fellow members of the visual effects branch of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences sat before him. Their job on this night was to pick the three films that would be considered for an Academy Award.

Ang Lee's "Life of Pi" won four VES Awards at the 11th Visual Effects Society Awards on Tuesday evening at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. "Life of Pi" -- which is nominated for 11 Academy Awards, including best film and director -- won for visual effects in a visual effects-driven motion picture, animated character in a live action feature motion picture for  Richard Parker, FX and simulation animation in a live action feature motion picture for the...

Visual effects visionary, director and producer Douglas Trumbull has a "broad" philosophy of film. He believes that everything in a movie is, in essence, a special effect. "Movies are all about illusions, whether it is makeup or wardrobe or some location or being in a period of time or being on an alien planet," says Trumbull, 69. Trumbull has created some of the screen's greatest illusions in such seminal sci-fi films as Stanley Kubrick's 1968 masterwork "2001: A Space Odyssey," his own 1972 cult classic "Silent Running" and Steven Spielberg's 1977 "Close Encounters of the Third Kind.

This should be a golden age for visual effects in movies. Thanks to the box office success of movies such as "The Avengers" and "Life of Pi," demand for visual effects has never been greater. Studios are spending $100 million or more to put ever more stunning digital images on the big screen. But the companies that create the computer-generated imagery for those blockbusters are struggling as a rising tide of globalization and runaway production takes a toll on an industry that California pioneered.

Visual effects "Avatar" Joe Letteri, Stephen Rosenbaum, Richard Baneham and Andrew R. Jones In one of the few wins that "Avatar" managed to snag on a night delivered and gift-wrapped to "The Hurt Locker," Joe Letteri, Stephen Rosenbaum, Richard Baneham and Andrew R. Jones won for visual effects, topping other sci-fi fare "District 9" and "Star Trek." Despite taking a beating overall, "Avatar" was considered a shoo-in for this category after netting six trophies at the Visual Effects Society Awards the previous weekend.

Award season is in full swing, so to keep you up to speed, here are some key dates to mark on your calendars.